We met one week after the announcement that Roe would be overturned, and in a way that attacks the bodily autonomy and right-to-love-who-we-love of everyone in our community. And the week that Covid deaths have reached the awful milestone of 1,000,000 in the U.S.

In our service we prayed words of grief and worry and fear. We made space to share stories of times we’ve fought for abortion rights over the last 50 years – community members who had abortions, how helped women access abortions when they were illegal, or when they were legal in some states but not others, who have gone to protect clinics against protestors time after time. We also paused to name the healing we need and the healing we can offer.

Our Torah Study was a talk by organizer and author, and community member, Leah Harris about the their own life story of being forcibly separated from their mother by the state when she was struggling with mental illness. We talked about the ways that women seen as disruptive or disposable have had their reproductive choices torn away, either by being forced to have abortions or by being sterilized. Grieving together, we acknowledged the the ways police, social service agencies, and mental health “care” continue to operate out of histories of white supremacy and eugenics.

Leah recommends this article about the connection between the system that wants to end Roe and the system that is gearing up to snatch newborns to hand to wealthy white families.

Download the liturgy here.